Photo: Pat Gottschalk, left, in conversation with CCALS Board Chair Dawit Haile
Pat Gottschalk, CCALS’ legal counsel for 11 years, was recently awarded an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award by The Virginia Economic Developers Association (VEDA) Board of Directors. Gottschalk, along with Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s former General Counsel Sandi McNinch, received the award at VEDA’s 2022 Winter Membership Meeting in Richmond.
Gottschalk, a Naval Academy graduate and former Chair of the Economic Development Team at Williams Mullen, served as an Ex-Officio Board Member and Counsel at VEDA and as Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade. The award nomination called Gottschalk a “gentleman who volunteered his time and expertise to benefit VEDA (and) his pro bono work to benefit the organization would have cost many thousands of dollars in the marketplace.”
CCALS also benefited from its association with Gottschalk, who retired in May 2022. “Pat was much more than legal counsel,” said CCALS Board Chair Dawit Haile. “He was a trusted advisor, a network builder, a strategist, an advocate, and a true friend. His counsel has always been well thought out, measured, and effective. We were lucky to have the opportunity to work with him.”